Should he pay zakaah on shares that were given to him by the company and over which he has no control?

Question

I live in UK. My husband works for a company, which provides raw materials to other companies for making soaps, shampoos, cosmetics etc. For 3 years, he buys some company shares every month. The number of shares is doubled by the company for its employees.
Few days ago, when I was browsing your website, I came to know that we’ve to pay zakaah on shares. We didn’t know that before.
Now I’ve some questions:
1. My husband can sell only the shares he bought with his money. The company shares can be sold only after the completion of 5 years (maturity period). Even then only the shares of first month will be mature. More shares will get matured each month. If he sells his shares now, the company shares given with those shares will be taken back from him. So, he doesn’t want to sell them now. My question is, Does he still has to give zakaah on these shares?
2. Second question is, What is the nisaab of shares?
3. Third, he also has to pay tax and national insurance on these shares when he sells them. Does he have to pay zakaah only on profit?
4. If we don’t have money now, can we pay it next year?
5. Do we’ve to pay for all 3 years?
6. The shares are in our joint name but only my husband deals with them, Who has the responsibility to pay zakaah?
I’ll be really grateful, if you can answer me in detail, I am really concerned about the issue. I don’t want any haraam money in my home

Answer

Praise be to
Allah.

Firstly:

It is obligatory to pay zakaah on shares if the owner intends to sell them and they
reached the nisaab (minimum threshold). He should
work out their value each year, i.e., find out their market value, and pay one
quarter of one tenth (2.5%) of their value.

The nisaab is
the equivalent of 595 grams of silver or 85 grams of gold. As silver is of
lesser value, the nisaab should be worked out on the
basis of silver, so as to give the poor their fair share.

So if a person owns shares the value of
which is equal to the value of 595 grams of silver, then he owns the minimum
amount.

Secondly:

If a person acquires shares with the
intention of benefiting from their dividends and profits, and he does not
intend to sell them, then he does not have to pay zakaah
on the share itself; rather he has to pay zakaah on
the dividends, if he has taken possession of them and one zakaah
year has passed; he should pay one quarter of one tenth, or 2.5%, (of the
dividend).

Thirdly:

If the person does not have complete
ownership of the shares, or he is not allowed to dispose of them, like the
shares which the company has given to your husband, then he should pay zakaah once when selling them or taking back their value,
or when obtaining full possession of them by completing five years of work in
that company.

Fourthly:

Zakaah is obligatory
upon the owner; if you have shares then you must pay zakaah
on them, and you are responsible for that, but the husband may voluntarily pay zakaah on behalf of his wife.

Fifthly:

The basic principle is that taxes cannot
take the place of zakaah; every time one full hijri year passes, you should work out the value of the
shares and pay zakaah of one quarter of one tenth.

With regard to the double shares, if
your husband will take possession of them after five years and we said that
your husband should pay zakaah for one year when
selling them, then he should pay zakaah on what
remains of their price after paying taxes and National Insurance, because in
fact he does not possess anything other than that.

Sixthly:

If a person owns shares and works out
their value at the end of the year, but he does not have cash with which to
pay, it is permissible for him to delay zakaah until
he acquires cash or sells the shares, but he has to keep a record of that and
write down what he owes of zakaah for the first year,
the second year and so on. But it is better to hasten to pay zakaah and to be quick in doing good, and to make it easy
for oneself, because if the amount of zakaah
accumulates, he may feel reluctant to pay it.